My fearless padlet by Braydon Hoveland

What Happened?

bhovelan — 2024-05-31 20:09:16 UTC

In the early 70's, the government in Times Square would hire a company named Bliss to spray their roads as they had little funding to pave their roads. They would use waste oil that was later found to have a form of Dioxin in it, to control dust around Times Beach in Missouri. Just being exposed to Dioxin can cause long term effects that stay with a person.

When and Where

bhovelan — 2024-05-31 20:15:40 UTC

The disaster would take place at Times Beach in Missouri during the early 70s and it wouldn't be discovered how harmful the oil was until 1982 when the EPA did an investigation.

Who Was Affected?

bhovelan — 2024-06-01 03:34:57 UTC

A grand total of 160 million gallons of waste oil would be sprayed on these roads. This would cause the entirety of Times Square to evacuate by 1985, where the whole town would then be demolished in 1992. Not only would the people residing their lose their homes, but many would lose their lives and future health due to the exposure to Dioxin. On top of losing just this, they wouldn't have the chance to go back to their home until 14 years after the cleanup began.

How did they fix it?

bhovelan — 2024-06-01 03:40:10 UTC

To properly clean up Times Square they would have to demolish many structures and then found any traces they could of contaminated soil, scooped it up, then incinerated it. This 14 year process would cost 110 million dollars until Times Square would finally be safe again. This was the largest exposure of Dioxin that civilians ever faced in American history.